isn't anyone satisfied?

[no1canary 0]

i see that a majority of people on here have been complaining about the diamond formation. but i think we have to ask ourselves whether we want to see 38 goal action matches or we stay up.

even though we haven''t scored many we''ve now haven''t conceded a goal for 4 and a half hours! now that is pretty decent considering who we''ve played (apart from bristol). i think we''re gonna have to be realistic about this and accept that if we want to score loads of goals, we''re going to have to sacrifice clean sheets at the other end. its the same as tottenham and chelsea last year. chelsea were one of te most exciting teams last year but didn''t win anything. This year they are the most frustrating team to watch but still look very good and will be a lot closer to arsenal this season. and the same goes with spurs. yes they are more exciting than chelsea but they''re not in the 4-3''s this year.

so what''s it gonna be 3-4/3-3 or 1-0/0-0?

[gazzathegreat 0]

james

give me a 3-3 any time, against any opposition, i don''t care, the name of the game is entertainment.  The 2-2 against newcastle was one of the most entertaining matches i had seen for a long time, contrast that against the 0-0 at home against villa.  Yes, we have to stay up, but we won''t win if we don''t score goals, and using the diamond at home is a waste of time and too many players are clearly being played out of position.   We have to be positive and go for goal.  Or i might just fall asleep.  If i want to watch a tactical battle i will watch a cricket match.

 

The best form of defence is attack.

 

 

[FatMan Fat 0]

When we needed the impetus last year to ensure promotion we started playing 4-3-3. I appreciate that this year its a different class that we are playing in but there is a danger in playing "survival" football in that it can creep into the physce, the same way that our attacking formation did last year. That being so, I would like us to play 4-3-1-2 with Hucks and Leon up front. Either Bentley or McVeigh could play in the pocket and we know that a flat midfield 3 of Francis, Holt and A.N. Other can hold their own.

Of course its important that we dont conceede goals but its laos a fact that the teams that get relegated are those who dont score goals, and right now we need to to be more enterprising.

If we played entertaining football and failed I for one would prefer that to boring football and probable failure.

 

[ZLF 271]

As so few players really succeed in that ''whole'' position I would avoid it like the plague. I think a 4-4-1-1 or or 4-2-3-1 formation would suit us better. And the diamond must go after tomorrow.

With 4-4-1-1 I would go with either McVeigh or Bentley sitting off Hux at the front man. This would mean a change style and move to more passing than long ball football. I think this will suit Bentley as he is a Bergkamp type player, while McVeigh has the ability to be a Peter Beardsley for Hux - the pair have always performed well together on the pitch.

4-2-3-1 means Francis and Safri sitting deep with McVeigh, Hux, and Jonson/Bentley roving advanced midfield behind Leon. Should be defensively sound when needed - the middle three to drop back, but with enormous pace to support the front man when needed.

Am I satisfied? Actually yes. The club has a far better squad than last seasons with real options. Worthy is just taking a while fitting them into the best solution to keep us up. As long as we play as we did prior to villa during OCt/Nov we will move up the table.

OTBC

[DumbleDelia is Magic 0]

I see your point James, I do.  But we''re aren''t going to stay up by not conceding goals, we''re going to stay up by scoring them.  Although the goals against column isn''t looking too bad, it is marred by the goals for column!  We need to score goals in this league and I don''t think the diamond gives us a good an oppertunity of doing this

[ZLF 271]

Wasnt there a post several months ago that showed the number of goals scored by the teams outside the top six was actually very consistent, but what sorted the relegated teams from the mid table ones was in fact the number of goals conceeded... so perhaps this is what is driving the concerns?

If we can learn to score while being defensively solid we will stay up - very few teams get relegated for having a solid defence. But we do need to score at some stage!

OTBC

[shropshire canary 0]

When the Baggies had their last go round their whole approach was based on defence - trust me I live near enough to know that by mid season they''d had so many 1-0 defeats in boring games their fans knew they were down by Xmas.

Yes keep it tight by all means but although it is blindingly obvious a win and a defeat is better than two draws: both in points terms and , I believe, pschologically too.

[nolegs 0]

boring,tedious, negative,uninspiring,widthless,if the diamond formation was in the dictionary these would probably be the words used to describe it.

[machoman 0]

ZippersLeftFoot, that post was mine - and whilst I think stats are OK for picking general trends, they can''t tell the whole story. I think the bad goal difference for the teams that were relegated were due to a few 5-0, 4-0 etc pastings, mostly early on - and to be honest who cares if its 4 or 5 - they both mean no points - and it''s points that kept the other teams up.

I haven''t checked, but I bet the real difference between the relegated teams and the rest was the number of 1-0 defeats where the defence was OK, but the lack of strike power meant that once a goal was conceded it was very difficult for them to come back, never mind win.

These teams did scrape about the same number of goals from their top 3 scorers - but it''s when you score that counts. There''s absolutely no point in a having a 20-goal a season man who scores in every one of your 2-1 defeats. Far better to have someone who only scores around 10 goals, but they are all 1-0 wins, thus keeping the clean sheet has to be a platform for the strikers.

I seem to remember that when we were relegated before, we actually didn''t concede too many, but Chase in his wisdom had decided to sell off what strike force we had, so once 1-0 down the game was over. Unfortunately, I think the same may happen again unless we find a way to score goals, and quickly.

[Tom the canary 0]

I think the biggest problem with the diamond formation is that with Saffri at the base there cannot be room for Gary Holt.  Much as I admire Gary he is not a creative midfielder.  In the Championship he can run all over the place and make up for his lack of creation by eventually hasslingplayers out of possession.  This simply can''t happen in the Prem.  Players are too good. 

The answer?  I don''t know but I do know that Saffri, Helveg, Francis, Mulryne, McVeigh, Bentley all represent better options and in the case of the first two equally good defensive attributes.  I also think Holt gets in the way of the back four by playing too deep.  Sorry Gary but you are  late sub to cover tiring legs when we are winning.